Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin ‘Disabled’ After Heart Surgery - Sensationalist Headlines

Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin ‘Disabled’ After Heart Surgery Marty Balin — co-founder of Jefferson Airplane and longtime singer for that group and its later incarnation, Jefferson Starship — was, according to a lawsuit, left “totally disabled” by the care he received at a New York City hospital, following an emergency heart procedure. According to the New York Post, Balin has filed the suit against Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, alleging that staff there botched his recovery from open-heart surgery in 2016, causing him to lose half his tongue, his vocal cords, left thumb and the mobility in his left hand. Balin, 76, was in New York for a gig on March 12, 2016, but the day before was rushed to Mount Sinai Beth Israel with a cardiac issue and did not leave the hospital for three months. While there, he wound up having having open-heart, triple-bypass and valve-replacement surgery, and spent time in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

alleging that staff there botched his recovery from open-heart surgery in 2016, causing him to lose half his tongue, his vocal cords, left thumb and the mobility in his left hand. WHAT THE FUCK. How do you do all that from just fucking heart surgery, jesus fucking christ

I imagine blood flow to those parts of the body was restricted (a clot probably), causing them to die.

Infection, maybe?

Jesus that's got to be devastating for a singer to lose their vocal cords. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uokp0aEiT-A dude had hell of a voice.

aaaand he died https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jefferson-airplane-guitarist-marty-balin-dead-76-730912/

Pretty terrible to be stripped of what meant most to him before his death.

he had an emergency open heart triple bypass with valve replacement. yoy're basically hooked onto a dozen machines and paralyzed for days because of how fucking broken his heart was.

I've been interning at a thoracic surgery department, and however amazing these surgeons are, there's no such thing as "just fucking heart surgery". This was obviously acute surgery, which means that he wouldn't be in the best state to receive surgery in the first place. Kidney complications aren't that uncommon, and infections that you and I can deal with can easily put one of these patients in the ICU. Some (luckily few) patients (especially smokers and diabetics) have breast bones that simply don't heal up properly, leading to more or less chronic infections (and basically non-existent sternums) that have mortality rates that you don't really wanna know about. While a tracheotomy shouldn't result in a lesion of the recurrent nerve (I can't give you a rate for that complication, but it should be really low), and an IV drop really shouldn't end up with him losing a finger (these could definitely be grounds for a suit), this guy spent three months in hospital, and those complications are by-products, not primary causes of that long of a stay. Lung infections, infections at the site of surgery, perhaps urosepsis or whatever else you could come up is what ends up complicating things. That's how he ended up getting all that from "just fucking heart surgery", because it's just never "just". Can't give you a good explanation for the tongue, though. Sadly I can't access the files of the suit (it was filed in the Southern District Court of New York if anyone wanna go spelunking), but I'd like to read up on how exactly these complications allegedly came about. Not saying the hospital didn't fuck up (it definitely sounds like they might've), but with these suits you always have to keep in mind that you're not exactly gonna play down your claims.

Well fuck me, Jefferson Airplane is one of my favorite bands of all time and has been a major influence on me as a musician (an amateur one, anyway). Of course it was going to happen eventually, but that's one hell of a way to go for a musician to lose his voice and ability to play nearly any instrument for the last two years of his life. Gonna have to blast some of their work later today in remembrance. Weren't they still playing the occasional show up until at least a few years ago or am I thinking of another band?

holy shit my dad went on the road with him for a while like 20 some years ago he never liked the guy but damn, this is a bit unexpected.

The classic lineup (minus Spencer Dryden) last played together in 1989. Jefferson Starship still plays but Paul Kantner who was basically the only member from Jefferson Airplane died a few years ago. Grace Slick quit performing regularly a while back and Jorma and Jack still play regularly as Hot Tuna I feel like a lot of the time bands fall apart because the members begin to realize their differences after years of touring but the huge variety of musical backgrounds and ideas (and inevitable tension) in Jefferson Airplane is part of why they sounded so unique and chaotic imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr_KnscgBZc Rest In Peace you amazing man

I remember I first heard Jefferson Airplane in Battlefield Vietnam. It was this tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0 RIP.